Appreciate Teachers-Especially if They are Moms

Any working mother realizes that she is missing part of her child's life. But teachers and other moms working with children feel this loss more deeply.

As I greet students with a smile, my mind fills with the remembrance of chubby arms around my neck and cries of "Mama!" as my baby protests my leaving.

While I comfort a hesitant Kindergartner on his first day, someone else is comforting my baby.

As I listen to a child read their first words from a book, I'm missing my baby's first words.

When I'm teaching long division, someone else is teaching my baby to walk.

As I wave to my students standing in lunch line, my baby is trying new foods for the first time.

When I praise a student for mastering a new skill, I'm missing praising my baby for her first steps.

As I read aloud to my students, someone else is reading my baby her favorite book.

While I'm teaching students to count to 100, someone else is counting the ounces of milk my baby drank.

Every milestone I help someone else's child reach is in exchange for one I missed in my own child-and my heart mourns the loss.